Canoe Surfing

[darren]

OK, I posted this in the "Back from Hawaii" thread, but I figured I should post it here to make sure you paddlers see it.

Me, my friend Marcus, and his two labs Pono (the yellow lab on "Lost") and Hone surfing Marcus' four man surf canoe. We were surfing the breaks called "Suicides" (not kidding) and "Tongs" off of Diamond Head.

The canoe is over 300 lbs. I'm 205, Marcus is about 200 (or more), and the dogs are about 80 lbs each (too bad they didn't help paddle). That is 2 guys trying to paddle about 900+ lbs fast enough to catch Hawaiian kine waves. It took a couple tries but then we got the hang of it and caught some awesome waves. It is hard work but surfing a wave is awesome. Haaaaawaiian!


I shot this one from land (Marcus and 3 others surfing at Suicides):

Before I left Hawaii I got the nerve to surf my one man outrigger (carbon fiber, 22' long, 26 lbs). It was scary but I figured it out pretty quick and didn't huli (flip). I rode several waves and it was awesome. I am getting it shipped home and I hope to have it by september. Can't wait to paddle Hawaiian style on my home breaks.

Aloha

- darren

 

[Jay H]

Cool Pics darren, who are you using to ship your Canoe? Warren might be in the same boat, so to speak...

Jay

 

[darren]

Cool Pics darren, who are you using to ship your Canoe? Warren might be in the same boat, so to speak...

Jay

I'll talk to you offline about it. Not a straight forward deal!

If his kayak is 17' then he can just get a big piece of sonotube and put the kayak inside and use any freight company. The problem is when you go over 20' since conex boxes are 20' long.

- darren

 

[Jay H]

Nah, he has a Valley Nordkapp jubilee which I think is like 17' even. it's certainly not longer than 20'

I sat in a Valley Avocet LV at a place recently, was nice, didn't get a chance to demo it, I'd like to sit in a NDK Romany LV too but they had one on order..

P.S. what's with the bow line tied to the outrigger? is that for rescue situations, a way to easily grab the bow to right the OC when flipped?


jay

 

[Brambor]

wow

love the first pic Darren

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Awesome shots, Darren. I also love the flying ears in the first pic. So if that is you in the canoe in the first two photos ...

Who is the photographer? Carmel? shot with your dSLR? waterproof housing? from another boat or a board? Inquiring minds want to know and give due credit.

 

[darren]

You are right, I should have given credit to my friend Paul for the first two shots. He was shooting from the water with a dSLR and a fish eye lens in a waterproof housing. He does a lot of surf photography and has been published tons. We got really close to him with the canoe. He took one shot with the camera just inches away from the canoe as we went whizzing by. He was awesome and would tread water for hours to get shots.

I'll post some more later.

- darren

 

[darren]

P.S. what's with the bow line tied to the outrigger? is that for rescue situations, a way to easily grab the bow to right the OC when flipped?


jay

It is just for extra strength. There is a lot of force on the outrigger when you turn a 900+ lb canoe going over 20 mph.

Where is Warren moving?

- darren

 

[coldfeet]

WOW!...pretty cool...big waves...life jackets?

 

[darren]

WOW!...pretty cool...big waves...life jackets?

uhhhh....yah.......I don't think they even sell life jackets in Hawaii. I've never seen anyone with one. We were about 1/2 mile offshore for those first two shots. Guess it doesn't matter if you flip and get hit in the head with a 300 lb canoe.

This is my buddy Paul with his fins and dSLR in the waterproof housing.

Him in the water getting some shots:

Aloha

- darren

 

[darren]

Can't resist....a couple more by Paul:

You can see the shadow from the camera housing on the ama (outrigger):

That is shot with a fish eye lens...the camera is within 5" of the ama.

Paul is da man!

Aloha

- darren

 

[coldfeet]

Boy, he must have some bumps and bruises of those close ups

Be well and safe!

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Thanks, for the additional photos and info, Darren. Your shot of Paul's head in water with the canoe approaching is amazing. He has nerves of steel, and no doubt he is good at diving out of the way if necessary.

You can see the shadow from the camera housing on the ama (outrigger) ...

That is shot with a fish eye lens...the camera is within 5" of the ama.

Paul is da man!

In addition to the shadow another indicator of the close quarters is the slightly out of focus ama, due to depth of field. Full screen fish eye lens photos often appear to have everything in focus. This lens can focus to about 1', although the camera is auto focused a bit further out in the photos. Awesome close up, action photos.

 

[IndianChris]

Awesome pictures Darren!!!

What is the canoe made of? It looks like plastic or fiberglass but at 900lbs...is it made of wood?

 

[darren]

The canoe is fiberglass and wood. It is just over 300 lbs. It is over 900 lbs when you put 2 guys and 2 dogs in it. I gotta lay off the cheese burgers...

- darren